From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton -- 01/20/97 Date: 1997/01/21 Message-ID: <5c11fc$6n5@alpha.sky.net> followup-to: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling.info,rec.sport.pro-wrestling The News From Dayton For the week of January 20, 1997 Updated Throughout the Week! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michaels and Austin are winners / Set Your VCRs! Read on for more on this week's Headline Stories! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News From Dayton is compiled weekly by: Rick Scaia (ag725@freenet.carleton.ca) However, I do not work in a vacuum... by virtue of being much more dedicated to to regular, insider updates on breaking news than I am, the following kind and generous online personalities and forums provide key corroboration and details on the stories I report here; without them, the NFD would be a much less informative document: Alex Marvez and his Weekly Dayton Daily News Wrestling Column The Wrestling Lariat The Newzfirst Folder (on America On-Line) and the new NewzFirst Web Page The Bagpipe Report and MiCasa's Daily News WWF On-Line (on America On-Line) and of course... My Many Top Secret Sources Whose Names I Cannot Divulge --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Beginning very soon, the NFD will be available via e-mail. The esteemed Chris Zimmerman is providing vital assistance, and we hope to have the mailing list up and running soon. Keep your eyes on this spot for details. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News -- For the Week of January 20, 1997 The News From Dayton, as always, remains a combination of the weekly Dayton Daily News pro wrestling column, penned by Alex Marvez, and other pieces of information culled from various other sources for you, the Home Viewer. If you are reading the NFD on one of the RSPW newsgroups, or anywhere on the web other than the revamped News From Dayton Web Site, I strongly encourage you to make the jump to the NFD on the web at http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html I think you'll find the trip worthwhile, as there are many exclusive features to the NFD Web Site, along with updates on breaking news, so that you don't have to wait a full week for the NFD's take on the latest rumors. But for now, let's move on to a summary of Alex Marvez's weekly wrestling column: * The majority of Alex's column this week is a celebration of what is shaping up as a banner week for fans of pro graps. Between two PPV events, both major feds offering live Monday night shows, and a live Clash of the Champions, there will be 11 hours of live wrestling available to fans over a 7-day span from Sunday, January 19, to Saturday, January 25. The week shapes up like this: o WWF Royal Rumble -- Alex previewed the Rumble show (which turned out to be a very good event) by predicting that Shawn Michaels would win back the WWF Title in his hometown and in front of an anticipated crowd of 50,000 fans. He hedges a bit, saying that a Sid victory via outside factors isn't out of the question, as there was expected to be controversy surrounding the title to set up a rumored four-corners match at the WWF's February PPV. o Monday Night -- Tonight's live Monday Night RAW will not only recap and expand upon event's of the Royal Rumble, but will also provide new storylines building towards the February IYH event, and a fantastic TV main event pitting the Rumble winner against the title match loser (in this case, tonight we will get a huge match of Steve Austin facing Sid). Nitro is also expected to pull out the usual stops in continuing to build to the Hogan/Giant PPV match this weekend. o Clash of the Champions -- WCW has a live two-hour Clash on Tuesday night, and it is expected to be an extension of the Nitro program, peppering the event with hype for the "NWO" pay-per-view event on Saturday. o Souled Out -- Hyped as an NWO pay-per-view, this WCW event will likely have some of the unique production and style of the NWO segments featured on other WCW TV shows. A match between Hogan and the Giant for the WCW Title is the main event; if Hogan plans on ever dropping the strap, this would be as likely a place for him to do it as any... * Next, Alex offers a mildly chastising summary of WCW/TNT's programming ploy of last Monday night. After angles and events led up to a promised Hogan/Giant non-title main event match on Nitro, the show -- for the first time in its history -- ran out of time and had to go off the air at 10p.m. (Eastern) sharp. Announcers promised that TNT would cut back to the match during commercials of the new Robin Hood TV show. While announcers, during a couple of 60-90 second cut-ins that finally concluded 40 minutes after Nitro ran out of time, played the match up as if the cut-ins were live and the match was a lengthy classic, the reality was that Hogan and the Giant did a tame three-and-a-half minute match bout that ended, frustratingly enough for fans who did stay tuned, in a boring and predictable NWO run-in. [In a Prodigy online chat, Eric Bischoff did offer a back-handed apology for the stunt, but said that when the big wigs thought that WCW could be used to help launch the new show, he wasn't about to turn them down.] * Finally, Alex runs down the much-talked-about incident between Scott Hall and Nasty Boy Jerry Saggs. Saggs pummeled Hall at a Jan. 4 house show in Shreveport, LA, after Hall tossed a chair at Saggs. Alex reports that there was already bad blood between the two stemming from a overly-stiff chair shot delivered by Hall last fall on Nitro. While Hall did require "facial surgery," he's expected to be ready to participate in the Clash main event against Lex Luger. * Alex Marvez's weekly Dayton Daily News Wrestling Column provides the timely and accurate information that generally makes up a portion of the NFD. Alex can be contacted via e-mail at this *NEW* address: "alex_marvez@coxohio.com". Due to time and computer limitations, Alex is no longer part of the AOL Grandstand Wrestling Area. Some other information: * The biggest other story to report is the series of events coming out of the WWF Royal Rumble PPV last night... in front of a crowd that was announced at 60,477 by the WWF (but which in the opinion of this reported could simply be termed "damned huge"), the WWF put on a solid show featuring super finishes in the two top matches. On the undercard: the Lucha Minis built quite a bit of interest over their match, as the crowd actually popped pretty big when the team of Mascarita Sagrada, Jr. and La Parkita defeated Mini Vader and Mini Mankind. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, with help from his new bodyguard Mr. Hughes, defeated Goldust in the evening's one disappointing match. Ahmed Johnson beat Faarooq by DQ when the NOD decided to interfere after Ahmed gained the upper hand in this intense brawl. In incredible Pearl River Plunge through a table for one of the NOD members capped the match off nicely. Vader pinned the Undertaker with some assistance from his (Vader's) new manager, Paul Bearer; afterwards, Undertaker chokeslammed the ref for missing Bearer's interference. In a match that had little crowd heat, but which was fairly fast-paced and which featured an incredible top-rope-to-the-floor move by Hector Garza, the team of Garza/El Canek/Perro Aguayo beat Heavy Metal/Jerry Estrada/F. Guerrera. Moving on to the top two matchs: the Rumble match was superb, and the eventual winner, Steve Austin put on an even more superb individual performance, combining my favorite two past Rumble performances (Ric Flair's 60 minute endurance-a-thon in 1992 after he drew #3 and Diesel's bad-ass elimination of 5 or 6 consecutive wrestlers in 1994)... Austin drew #5, and lasted over 40 minutes (the interval this year was 90 seconds) during which he set a new Rumble record by eliminating 10 men (several times, leaving himself alone in the ring). The finish had Terry Funk and Mankind locked up and brawling, and eventually eliminated very close to each other. They continued brawling outside, which forced both refs assigned to the Rumble to converge and try to break it up. At this point, Bret Hart was able to finally toss Steve Austin over the top rope. However, with both officials occupied, nobody saw Austin eliminated. Austin returned to the ring, tossing both the Undertaker and Vader (who were in the ropes brawling with each other when Austin came up behind them), and then catching Bret Hart by surprise after Hart thought he won the Rumble by eliminating Diesel. When Hart was tossed over the top by Stone Cold, the refs got in the ring and named Austin the Rumble winner. Hart pitched a fit afterwards, assaulting both officials and even grabbing Vince McMahon by the collar. The entire AlamoDome seemed to be behind Shawn Michaels as he faced the WWF Champion, Sid. It was incredible to watch the crowd rise to its feet anytime it thought a Michaels victory was imminent. After a decent 25 minute match which was played more for drama than for workrate, Sid had a chance to punish both Lothario's (the 62-year-old Jose and the 19-year-old Pete), but had the chance quashed by Shawn. After that, a ref bump preceded a Sid chokeslam. A second official finally did appear to count, but by the time he got there, Shawn was able to make a dramatic kick-out at the 2-and-a-half mark. Sid was upset with the second official for being so slow, and wound up tossing him out of the ring. While Sid was occupied with that ref, Shawn was recovering and commandeering one of the handheld ringside cameras. With the original ref still out, Shawn belted Sid with the camera twice, once in the back and once in the chest. The original ref slowly recovered, and crawled over and made an agonizingly slow count... but Sid kicked out at the 2-and-99-hundreths mark. After a brief exchange, Shawn nailed the superkick, and this time, Sid's shoulders stayed down for three. The AlamoDome erupted at this crowd-pleasing finish to an all-around entertaining show. For *all* the details on the event, just click here. * The Shotgun Saturday Night leading into the Rumble was also a memorable affiar, as for the first time, the WWF put on a Shotgun which had all of its top stars available. The highlight was the Texas return of Terry Funk, who ran down WCW, Vince McMahon, Todd Pettingill, and Jim Ross while asking just who the hell wanted to Rumble with him. Finally, Steve Austin was goaded into being the fellow Rumbler, and Funk and Austin brawled briefly. Later on, Austin was facing Goldust when Funk arrived and interfered, causing a DQ win for Austin, but leading to 10 other guys rushing the ring and wild brawling ensuing. The brawling included Funk and Austin brawling in a steel beer tub, and HHH assaulting Goldust with a pool cue. Other action: Rocky Maivia beat HHH by count-out following interference from Marlena and Goldust. Histeria and Mini Mankind defeated Venom and Mascarita Sagrada. And Faarooq beat Jesse James. * As I first reported here last week in an update to the NFD Web Page, a live WWF TV special has been confirmed for Thursday, February 13. This is the result of the annual pre-emption of Monday Night RAW for the Westminster Dog Show on USA Network on Feb. 10... however, as this is the week before a PPV, Titan wants to have a chance to hype the In Your House event with a prime time cable show. This cable special is the result. Orignially the show was scheduled as a one-hour special starting at 9 p.m. on 2/13. However, USA Network's advance schedule now lists the 10 o'clock hour as "To Be Announced." Along with other reputable sources saying this special will be 2 hours long, I'll take that as confirmation of the event's length. The two-hour special will be live from Lowell, MA, and will feature a WWF Title defense. [Note: the Bagpipe Report states that the special will be called "Fightin' Titan: Thursday Night Live."] * On the heels of the Hall/Saggs legit brawl, there is now word that NWO'er "Syxx" Waltman scuffled with Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs in a bar last week. Reportedly, Syxx threw the first punch after Knobbs (jokingly?) pulled Syxx's hair. Knobbs responded with a punch of his own. Both men settled down and let the issue rest at that. In other "barroom brawl" news from WCW: Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit apparently had words (and fists) after Benoit walked into a bar with Nancy "Woman" Sullivan on his arm... however, this belongs in the "believe at your own risk" category, as Sullivan has shown a bizzare fetish on trying to fool the very wrestlers he works with. Last year, he and Pillman worked the other wrestlers during their brief feud. Now, it appears he's trying the same tactic again, hoping to fool some of the hardcores at the same time. Running an "angle" in a bar wouldn't be too ridiculous to suspect. The only difference is that this time, nobody will really care; when fans thought Pillman might actually be shooting last year, they cared because Pillman's character was so compelling, not because of Sullivan. This year, if they try the same element of realism in a feud with Benoit, fans will simply be sitting back thinking, "Why bother? They're still just wasting Benoit in a feud with an old guy that no one cares about." * Also in the "believe at your own risk" category: Gene Okerlund reportedly had a silly blurb on his hotline about the Giant considering leaving WCW because of the beatings put on him by Hogan and the NWO. Sometimes I wonder if Gene is existing in the same universe as the rest of us.... this sounds like more of the mostly-inaccurate tripe Gene puts on his hotline in an attempt to spread false "news," and not like anything that should actually be reported as "news." * As always, I preface the following plug by reminding you folks that I don't plug things unless I think they are really worthwhile. In this case, I'm plugging "With Authority!" which is the first ever online wrestling magazine. The full features of WA! are not available yet, as the operation is just getting off the ground. However, when everything is in place, expect a truly must-see web page, with tons of exclusive features, including regular Real Audio updates. For now, you can visit the "beta test version" of With Authority! at http://www.deltazone.com/ to get a taste of what is to come. * WWF pay-per-view dates for the foreseeable future: o In Your House --- Chattanooga, TN --- February 16, 1997 o WrestleMania 13 --- Chicago, IL --- March 23, 1997 o In Your House --- Rochester, NY --- April 20, 1997 o In Your House --- Baltimore, MD --- May 11, 1997 o King of the Ring --- Providence, RI --- June 8, 1997 o In Your House --- Calgary, Alberta, Canada --- July 6, 1997 o SummerSlam '97 --- E. Rutherford, NJ --- August 10, 1997 o In Your House --- Louisville, KY --- September 7, 1997 ************ The News From Dayton This compilation is Copyright 1995, 1997 by Rick Scaia (ag725@freenet.carleton.ca) All rights, if any, reserved. Proper credit is given to sources of information whenever possible. Reproduction of this document, or the contents thereof, is permitted, and encouraged as long as: (1) in reproducing any part of this document, you give proper credit to both the original source of information as well as to "The News From Dayton," and (2) no profit is made from the reproduction or distribution of this information (this info is not meant to be disseminated via 1-900 lines or other media which cause the reader to incur a cost or which generate any kind of revenue for the information provider!). ************************************************************************** -- Rick Scaia | I'm on the Web now! RSPW Posse Minister of OFFENSE | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/ ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | Prepare to be Disappointed!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------